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Saturday, 29 September 2012

"The problem we have in Kenya, as in many other parts of Africa, is that animal feed is competing with human feed," Ayieko told SciDev.Net.
For example, she said, near Lake Victoria, the poorest people depend on a small fish that used to be cheaper to purchase than most other foods. Now that this fish is being used as feed for fish farms and for pet stores, the price has gone up so only well-off consumers can buy it, she added.
"The challenge will be mass rearing insects," she said.Click here for the full story

Thursday, 27 September 2012

Current Affairs programme Carte Blanche will be broadcasting a full report on Agriprotein on Sunday night. Agriprotein's' business is leading the new industry of nutrient
recycling. The company recycles abattoir waste using fly larvae into a
high quality protein ( Larvae or 'Magmeal') that is sustainable, cost
effective and competes with fish meal. Saving our seas one fish at a
time.

Also featured on the programme is Jason Drew who has recently successfully launched his new book "The Story of the Fly and how it can Save the World" in London .

Radio Interview with Jason Drew than takes you behind the pesky reputation and inside the brain and body of
the much misunderstood fly. It investigates the insect as a pest and how
man has tried (tirelessly and often unsuccessfully) to kill it –
exploring everything from how it walks on ceilings to how it survives
Ice Ages and outsmarts all manner of fly swats, toxins and traps.

Wednesday, 26 September 2012

You should believe little that is written on
our fisheries – particularly where that is from NGO’s or Governments. Instead you trust your instincts and open
your eyes and understand what the markets are telling you. Then think again and
the solutions seem obvious. Let me explain.

Fish don’t have votes but fishermen do, so
will always come first. It is the job of politicians and the big business
interests running our fishing industries to tell us its all ok and business as
usual. It’s not.

Go to your local supermarket where you will
find baby hake fillets and sole petite and a host of other smaller fish. Not
because they are easier to catch or tastier but simply because we have eaten
their parents. You don’t need to be a farmer to understand that eating your
breeding stock is not a good thing. In fact the only full sized fish you are
likely to see are farmed ones. A trout or salmon farm can use as much as 2.3kg
of sea caught fish – ground up into fish meal - to grow just 1kg of fish – of
which we only eat the fillets!.

Whilst it is true that huge strides have
been made in the feed conversion ratios and that farmed salmon are more
efficient at converting feed into protein than say poultry or cattle, they still require more fish in than you get
fish out. You are still better off eating the last fish in the sea than these farmed
species.

Fish like Tilapia and Barramundi require far
less marine protein and therefore have a lower impact. Still we take millions
of tons of fish from our seas each year just to provide protein for out
industrial farming operations.

When a single mature Tuna sold for $730,000
in Tokyo earlier this year – almost double last years record of $370,000. It is the market telling us they are rarer
that Rhino horns which sell (illegally)
for the same around $400,000 each.

When a fishing trawler rocks up on Cape
Town’s Clifton Forth Beach everyone worries about the potential of an oil
spill that will devastate the lovely
sandy beach. In this mad world no one thinks to questions what a Japanese
trawler full Tuna from our South African territorial waters is doing there in
the first place.

We have already destroyed the greatest
natural wonder of the sea world – the grand banks. They have banned fishing on
the sea of Galilee because there are no fish left. When will we stop this
madness and do the only thing we can do which is develop our marine protected
areas.Where areas of our seas have been
declared off limits to all fishing, stocks recover, mature fish breed and the
young when overcrowded swim out to open seas where they fill the fishermen’s
nets sustainably.

In a world where resources not taken by one
person will be taken by another there is no other solution to the issue of our
seas. Instead of pawing over new car brochures deciding on what extras to add
to their latest state purchased luxury car – our ministers should be busy implementing
a comprehensive marine reserve system around South Africa and lobbying our
neighbours to do the same.

Lets get busy repairing our future .

Jason Drew

Author of "The Protein Crunch – Civilization on the Brink" and the recently launched "The Story of the Fly and How it can Save the World"

Monday, 24 September 2012

How on earth can we live together?We
cannot all have a the material gratification that the industrial
revolution promised for all but delivered to so few. The sustainability
revolution has started and the industrial era is over. What does the
21st Century hold for humanity.Click here for more details

A British entrepreneur based in South Africa is confident that
his dried fly larvae will be the alternative protein source that can
reduce agriculture's dependence on fishmeal.Click here for Full Story

Friday, 21 September 2012

Listen to Jason's Interview with Quentin Cooper on BBC Radio 4's weekly The Material World, the UK's most listened to
science programme and the most accessible, funny and conversational
science programme on radio according to the Radio Times.Click here to listen to the interview

Wednesday, 19 September 2012

Quentin Cooper to Interview Jason Drew on his book "The Story of the Fly and How it Could Save the World

Quentin presents BBC Radio 4's weekly The Material World, the UK's most listened to science programme and "the most accessible, funny and conversational science programme on radio" according to the Radio Times.

Tuesday, 18 September 2012

Little Green Mag (17th September 2012)
Self confessed environmental capitalist, Jason Drew explains in his new book out next week, how the fly is helping save the planet and is providing a natural alternative to fishmeal as an animal feed - helping reduce the pressure on our overfished seas.Click for the Full Story

The Green Organisation (17th September 2012)

An amusing look at this extraordinary animal and its potential to create a new industry that could save our seas, Kevin James, CEO Global Carbon Exchange.

Rather than being a mere pest, the fly, according to Jason Drew, are pioneers in our modern world - making medical miracles and even inspiring aerodynamic design. They set fashion trends, travel in space and have the potential to do so much more.

DROP THE FLY SWATS: THE FLY COULD BE THE PLANET’S FUTURE HERO -
ACCORDING TO A NEW BOOK BY JASON DREW

Self confessed
environmental capitalist, Jason Drew explains in his new book out next week, how
the fly is helping save the planet and is providing a natural alternative to
fishmeal as an animal feed - helping reduce the pressure on our overfished
seas.

“The Story of
the Fly and how it could save the World” controversially argues that farming
fly larvae is essential if we are to feed our growing global population and
save our seas.

Drew argues that
flies suffer from bad press as a pest and are not really appreciated for their
important role in nature and their fascinating history. Genghis Kahn, NASA and
the NHS have all used flies in war, space and medicine.

AgriProtein –
a business he co-founded - is already producing and selling larvae - dried and
packaged as Magmeal ™. Says Drew, “Every ton of Magmeal™ we make and sell is a
ton of fish we don’t have to take from our seas”. The business is leading what
he believes will become a new global industry – that of waste nutrient
recycling.

Farming fly larvae as a natural animal feed for chickens and fish and an alternative to
fishmeal, can deliver the animal protein our industrial agriculture needs,
whilst saving our seas and reducing landfill. Already 25 per cent of all fish
we take from the seas is used in industrial agriculture and pet food - not for
direct human consumption.

The fly has a
significant role to play in help saving the planet, as the fly larvae feed on
waste nutrients that we are already producing in huge quantities.Instead of disposing of this waste it is
recycled using flies. The waste is fed to the eggs of flies, which grow into
larvae and are then harvested and made into ‘Magmeal” TM

Whilst we have
industrialised the production of our chickens and farmed fish – we did not
industrialise the production of their natural animal protein – flies and their
larvae. Instead we have overfished our seas to produce fishmeal for use in
industrial agriculture.

A single
female fly can lay up to 1,000 eggs, which AgriProtein then hatches into larvae,
which are fed on waste nutrients like abattoir blood. The harvested larvae are
then dried, milled into flake form and packed ready for inclusion in animal
feed preparations.

“We should embrace the potential of the fly as
a protein source given their exceptional breeding rates and the fact that they
are a natural food – tried and tested by Mother Nature for tens of millions of
years ” argues Jason Drew.

“Nutrient
recycling and fly farming could help save the planet delivering protein for
animal feed in a natural and sustainable way,” he added.

According to
Drew, flies are not pests but are pioneers in our modern world from being the
first animal in space to delivering medical miracles, inspiring aerodynamic
design and setting fashion trends. It is time to rethink the way we view the
fly and understand its role in history and nature.

“The Story of
the Fly and How it could save the World” is published by Cheviot Publishing and
is available from all good bookshops rrp
£9.99 and Amazon.co.uk.

Monday, 17 September 2012

Jason takes some time out before the launch of his new book "The Story of the Fly and how it can save the world"in the beautiful mountains around his farm in Tulbagh. With him are his lovely wife and daughter Rachel and Charlotte. Books can be ordered through Amazon and Kalahari.com and of course your favourite bookshop.